It was my birthday at the weekend, and it was a very lovely birthday. It’s difficult as you get older, to know how to celebrate your birthday sometimes. We thought about having a big bbq with friends and family round but in all honesty I couldn’t be bothered. I do love hosting things like that but it is a lot of work and actually, for my birthday, I didn’t want to do it. I just wanted to relax instead.
So on Saturday I left hubs with the kids, and popped down to London to see some friends. I was armed with a picnic and hoped the weather would be kind as I headed to Greenwich Park. As it turned out the weather was perfect, warm and dry but not too hot either, and I had the loveliest day with my girls, just sitting doing nothing but chatting. It’s so rare to do something like that and I enjoyed every second.
I was home by 11 so it wasn’t too late a night and wasn’t too hungover the next day for my actual birthday.
Thankfully LM slept in for us that Sunday Morning so I had a relaxed start with tea and presents with hubs and Monkey. I had a nice hot bath and got ready while hubs sorted a picnic for our day out bluebell hunting.
One of the things I love about having my birthday at this time of year is that it is very much bluebell season. There are some woods not far from here that I have visited regularly over the years, but this year I wanted to try somewhere new. I saw that Brampton Woods were supposed to be nice, and are only about 20 minutes away so thought we would try there.
Uncle Mark & Auntie Fran came with us and, well, we weren’t disappointed. Almost as soon as we entered the woods we were greeted by some beautiful bluebells.
I had read online the best spot to find the bluebells so we headed in that direction and wow it wasn’t wrong. There were bluebells as far as the eye could see, it was stunning and everything I had hoped it would be.
We spent a while larking around and taking pictures and just enjoying the bluebells, then had a lovely little picnic before carrying on exploring the woods.
There were areas in the woods where it almost looked like it was showing, or like we were in a misty swamp or something as there were fuzzy spores everywhere. Think like the seeds from a dandelion clock, but everywhere!
We spoke to one of the rangers and apparently it is the spores from an aspen tree. Normally they get washed or blown away but because it has been so dry recently they are just gathered together. So it’s very unusual but was kind of cool and felt pretty ethereal. Even during our picnic there were spores flying around us, at points it felt like ash falling in the scenes from Avatar after “home tree” burned down. Even though it was quite cool I was glad to be in the non fuzzy areas again as it was just everywhere and it felt like you were breathing it in!
We had great fun and it is a lovely wood as it is so diverse, with open areas and ponds as well as the more dense woodland areas.
We had a lovely day and it was just perfect for my birthday 🙂
Sounds a lovely birthday. I know what you mean about parties. You end up spending all the time in the kitchen! Love the bluebell photos. I’d like to see if we can find some this weekend. Those spores look really interesting too.
What a wonderful way to spend a birthday, it looks like you really made the most of it all. The Aspen Spores look almost magical in the forest, I bet the kids loved it, I can imagine they did get a bit much after a while though. From the smiles on their faces it’s clear that LM and Monkey had a wonderful time playing in the woods and you all had a wonderful day for your birthday.
Thanks for linking up with me on #CountryKids.
Aww! It sounds like you had a wonderful birthday. Relaxing sounds so much more fun than going to the effort of organising something….
The bluebell photos are just beautiful…..Those spores look magical.
#CountryKids
What a lovely birthday and the bluebells looks amazing and stunning #countrykidsfun
Happy Birthday! Looks like you celebrated it doing exactly the same sort I thing that I would want to do. Your photos are absolutely stunning!
#countrykids
Happy birthday. Looks like it was a lovely weekend. Those bluebells are beautiful #countrykids
What a brilliant birthday weekend! I love the snowy spores, and the bluebells are glorious! Happy birthday #countrykids
All the best people have bluebell birthdays 🙂 Those spores look amazing and the bluebells really have been wonderful this year haven’t they #CountryKids
The bluebell hunting thing is everywhere on Instagram, I think I need to get on the bluebell train. It looks as if you had a lovely time. #BestAndWorst
I love all the bluebell photos so much! Glad you had such a lovely day hun. You so deserve the rest and time out with your mates! You sound like you were treated well. Thanks for sharing with #bestandworst x
It sounds like a great birthday weekend, love the bluebell pics.
Happy birthday. It looks like you had a lovely weekend. I love bluebells. The best ones I’ve seen were in the woods on the Norfolk broads, just delightful #bestsndworst
Happy birthday! Looks like you had a wonderful time with your friends and a day out in a bluebell woods with your little family sounds like the perfect way to spend a birthday. I love seeing all the bluebells at this time of year and there are so many in your photos! The aspen spores are fascinating – I’ve never seen anything like that before. #countrykids
What a lovely way to spend a Birthday, I know what you mean about organising something and not relaxing! The bluebells are fab too. I wondering if I can get away with a girlie day for mine this year! You’ve got me thinking #CountryKids